Method of manufacturing brake hangers



June 6, 1933. F. SCHAEFER 1,913,171

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BRAKE HANGERS Filed March 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l l= tc 1. Q i (D K Z'ff I 1/ I J 4/ 6 10 WITNESS 10 I INVENTOR I:

June 6, 1933. F. SCHAEFER METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BRAKE HANGERS Filed March 12, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j wrm ass v INVENTOR Patented June 6, 1933 W'TED AT S rin innaldlscrmnrnn, or summers PENNSYLVANIA am'rnon or itnimrncrnnme BRAKE HANGERS Application filed March 12, 1930. Serial No. 435,266.

I The invention: relates to hangers for sus pending brake beams from the trucks of railway cars,coaches and the like, and has par 1 ticularly to do with hangers having one or ainore yolies which areelo'ngatedlin cross sec-. tion so that thehangers may be applied to,

either truck frame brackets or brakebeams while in abnormal or inoperative positions,v

and later turned to normal or operative posi tions for interlocking the hangers with the p p VIVI, F1g. 5; and Fig. 7 a face view of The prevailing practice isj ito manufacture p-artsto which they have been applied,

i such brake hangers from round rods, portions of which are forged to form the hanger yokes, In theforging of thefyolces some met a1 necessarily flashes between the forging dies, the flash being latertrilnmed off. Accordingly, in order toform a yoke having-a crossseetional area the same as that of the I so legs; of a er,l-it isnecessaryto ,first up-, setIthe yokeorming portion of the rod to. compensate for the lossof flash metal result;

ing from the forgingoperation. This materially adds to the costof manufacture by reason; of the waste of flash metal, the time required to re'move it, and the time required for upsetting the rod.

An object, ofthis inventionis to provide a brake hangerhaving an interlocking yoke of elongate form and of the same cross sectional area as the legs, the yoke being so shaped thatitmay be formed without preliminarily upsetting the yoke-forming portion of the rod from which the hanger is made. a a A. furtherobjectis to provide an improved method of manufacturing brake hangers from round rodswithout upsetting the yoke forming portions 'of the rods,-and a method 1 whereby the legs of the hangers may be readily made of the same length. a

Wh'le the invention is in general appli;

cable to U-shaped, closed link, and other forms: of brake hangers, some of its features are particularly useful in the manufacture and use of U-shaped hangers. Accordingly, the invention will be further described with reference to this particular type of hangers.

, The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which Fig. 1 is a view of a rodblank after the first operation has beenperformedontitfor forming a brake hanger ,Figs. and Ssimilar views showing the-blank insuccessive stages of HlflIlllf facture;, Fig. 41a diagrammatic sectional vlew of a pair of presslng dies for shaping the yoke of a hanger; Fig. 5 a diagrammatic vlew of a stretching apparatusforperforming the final operation on the hangerrFig. 6 a detail sectional view taken on the line the finished hanger.

' Having reference to the drawings, a rod 1 of uniform cross sectlona l area throughout,

have sufficient metal to form eyes 3, as shown in Fig. 3, which figure illustrates theblank after the eyes have been forged. a Theblank 7Q isthen bent to the'U-shape forin shown in Fig. 3,-this preferably being done in two op erations byffirst bending the rod to a larger thanthe final radius of curvature between each leg and yoke-forming portion, andthen to the final radius of curvature. i

a The blankthus shownin Fig. 3 has legs 4 provided with eyes 3. at their outer ends, and a yoke-forming portion 51, eXtending be tween the twolegs, the legs and yoke-form o ing portion being made in the same cross secs tional form as the original rod 1,. which, as stated, is preferably round. $1

In the next step in the manufacture of the hanger, the yoke-forming portion 5 of the 35 blank ofFignB is heated and pressedbetween a pair, of dies 6 diagrammatically illustrated in Fig" 4. These dies'are preferably so formed to give the yoke, indicated at 12, an= elongate cross section havinga large 9o arcuate main bearing. surface ,7, ,a smaller arcuate secondary bearing surface 8, and substantially plane-faced converging sides 9 joining the outer edges of the main and'secondary bearing surfaces. In this pressing operation the outer ends of the yoke are, somewhat flattened to form reinforcing ribs 13 at the corners of the hanger. 7 u r The. main bearing surface 7 of the yoke is that which. normally supports a brake beam, 1

suspended from the hanger. The secondary bearing surface 8 forms a bearing for the brake beam when a brake is applied to a wheel which is rotating in such direction as to cause the brake beam to place the hanger under compression. Because the main is subj ected to much more wear than the secondary bearing surface, the former is materially larger than the latter to proportionately resist the different degrees of wear to which they are subjected.

By shaping the yokein'the manner just explained, I have discovered that it may be formed in a press with no such flashing of the metal between the adjacent faces of the dies as to require subsequent trimming. While in some cases a little metal oozes outwardly between the dies, as generally indicated at 10 in Fig. 4, this flow of metal does not form a flash such as characterizes dieforging operations. Furthermore, such small amount of metal as may bulge outwardly between the pressed dies may be later jected to greater wear than those adjacent to This lack of uniform wear.

the longer leg. I upon the yokes prematurely weakens them,

and accordingly shortens the lives of the hangers. According to this invention, brake hangers are provided with legs of uniform length by slightly stretching the legs in such a manner that any inequalities in their lengths are removed.

In the manufacture of U-shaped brake hangers the lengths of their legs may be equalized in the manner diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 5. The hanger blank resulting from the yoke-pressing operation of Fig. 4 is arranged in a frame 15 of a suitable stretching machine, the eyes 3 of the hanger being engaged by removable pins 16 mounted in the frame. Atthe left end of the frame there is a stationary block or die 17 provided with a recess 18 of the desired shape of the secondary bearing surface of the hanger, the die lying in a plane parallel to that of the axes of the pins 16 and perpendicular to legs of the hanger. Attached to a rod 19, which may be reciprocated in any suitable manner, there is a head 20 provided with a die or recess 21 'of the same shape as the desired configuration of the main bearing of the yoke, this being shown as arcuate. When the hanger blank is assembled in the machine as shown in Fig. 5, rod 19 is moved to the left to engage the yoke of the hanger and presses it against die 17 This so stretches the legs of the hanger that inequalities in their lengths are removed. Also, the recesses 18 and 21 of die 17 and head 20, respectively, press into the body of the yoke any protrusions 10 that may have been formed during the yoke pressing operation illustrated in Fig. 4:- In this leg-stretching and yoke-forming or smoothing operation, the end of the stroke or rod 19 is so determined that the sides 9 of the yoke adjoining its arcuate bearing surfaces are not deformed.

A completed U-shaped brake hanger thus formed is illustrated in Fig. 7 the hanger having legs 4 provided with eyes 3, and having a connecting yoke 12 which in cross section is the same as illustrated in Fig. .6. As will be observed, the yoke has a large arcuate main bearing surface 7, a smaller arcuate secondary bearing surface 8, and substantially plane-faced converging sides 9 joining the outer edges of the main and secondary bearing surfaces. While some features of the invention are applicable to brake hangers having different forms of yokes, by the method herein disclosed it is possible to provide a brake hanger with a yoke of elongate form and having .a cross sectional area the same as that of the legs of the hanger.

, According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and mode of operation of my invention and haveillustrated and described the preferred manner of practicing it, and the preferred form of structure resulting from the practice of the method. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

' I claim as my invention:

l. The method of-forming a yoke of elongate cross-section on abrake hanger blank having legs and a yoke of the same crosssectional area and configuration, comprising die-pressing the opposite sides of the yoke to elongate its cross section, and thereafter simultaneously die-pressing the ends of the elongated yoke to smooth their surfaces and stretching the legs of the hanger to uniform length.

2. The method of manufacturing a U- shaped brake hanger, comprising forming eyes on the ends of a rod, bending the rod to form a hanger having parallel legs and a yoke, engaging the yoke and the eyes of the hanger in parallel planes, and effecting relative movement between the engaging means to stretch the legs to uniform length.

In testimony whereof, I sign my name.

FREDERIC SCHAEFER. 

